A very reasonable and (what should be) obvious point here: Puerto Rican statehood should be discussed in terms of what the citizens of Puerto Rico want and need, not in terms of the balance of power in the senate. https://twitter.com/julito77/status/1326629936124325888

For my part (not that anyone cares) I can't think of any compelling reason Puerto Rico shouldn't be a state, apart from issues of political balance. Presuming, of course, that this is what the citizens of Puerto Rico want. Which, at least based on recent votes, they seem to.

(I'd also be fine with continued territorial status, or independence, or even retrocession to Spain, if that is what they choose. Statehood shouldn't be fetishized.)

It seems worth noting that (iirc) 5 states have been admitted to the union since PR became a territory—all of which had smaller populations at the time.

It is difficult not to conclude that the only reason Puerto Rico was not seriously considered was that it was "Latin"—in both the sense of Latino and the sense of Catholic. (Imagine trying to convince 1950s America to add a new state with 2+ million "Spanish white" Catholics.)

OTOH, political balance isn't nothing. I suspect (like everyone) that it would go Democratic, but local politics are complicated and it's not entirely certain. And the recent election provides some pretty good proof that the Latino voters are not a fixed, homogeneous group.

And look, if that's the only real issue, I'm inclined to think that we need to either deal with it—admit PR as a state and accept the balance-of-power consequences—or give them the option of independence.

There are unsettling historical precedents for how things can go wrong when you keep people who want full and equal citizenship in a second-tier status for too long. (Not that I'm suggesting anything quite like this will happen. Just noting.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_War_(Italian)

But as for the focus of debate being on the balance of power in DC, all I can say is: it's a pretty crappy thing, and a little outrageous. But it's also a hallowed American tradition. Puerto Rico finds itself in the noble company of Missouri & Maine & Kansas & Nebraska &....